Guild Wars 2

Being a big, strong character is penalized. From a purely min/max, every advantage angle games like GW2 with no inherent strength bonuses to Norn and either penalties or non-bonuses to Asurans make playing a Norn nothing but a penalty.

Let’s take the racial elites out of the way because let’s call them “even” to be fair, because 1> they are pretty even and 2> most people dont run them.

The Norn in WvW and SPvP is an easier to click target, easier to see as a thief or mesmer and gets none of the reach, strength, or hit points to compensate.

I understand the argument that “I don’t want to be forced to play a Norn warrior,” but as it stands unless you just want to be big because you hate the Asuran look/style then you would be better served as an Asuran for almost every profession.

This really needs looked at because as it stands these games are favoring small to large in every way with no compensation for the big guys.

Totally agree, and I think its weird that there is no statsdifferences between races.

I agree with your concerns. This should be implemented.

If there are too many targets stacked on on top of another, size becomes largely irrelevant—either the general area is good enough or another target of equal size could just as easily prevent my clicking the target i want.

If targets few in number, tab-targeting will find an asura as fast as a norn. In a PvP environment, my desired target is generally 1-2 taps away.

If the desired target is marked, then your desired target is 1 tap away.

If targets are large in number, unmarked, and spread out, the effort involved in clicking a desired small character does go up, but not by enough that I’ve ever noticed it. The difficulty of finding the right target in that mess has little to do with size, it is like doing a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle while being shot at.

Even conceding a small advantage for smaller characters in that last situation, you want stat buffs that apply in all situations to compensate?

But what are we compensating for? I play a norn warrior because I want to be seen in combat. It is an advantage to my team in WvW or PvP for me to be easier to target than my teammates. In PvE my allies can see where I am more easily and this facilittes graphical situational awareness. My armor is bright yellow so I can be seen and identified at a glance.

So far the problems I’ve noticed with my Norn is that she has more trouble navigating jumping puzzles(she can’t seem to fit on ledges and misses the exact same jump distances that my asura, sylvari and human characters can and yes they’re all the same class and pretty much the same stats) and she seems to move slower, both in just running through the maps and swinging her melee weapons. So as much as I love her appearance she’s definitely falling behind in levels as she’s just not as much fun for me to play.

This idea would blow the game itself if they even ever considered implementing , so im not really worried this will ever even get taken into discussion by the devs , but anyway.

Lets just say here i disagree. Players should be able to pick any race/class combination they want. Simple like that. If it is such important thing to you then play asura.

Actually there is a benefit to being larger. This benefit is largely relegated to REACH.

Whatch an asura guardian and a norn guardian do the shield 5 skill (the dome shelter). The Asura barely is able to get allies while a single norn could protect 20 people without trying.

Larger characters also hit a larger area with melee weapons. I tested this just last night to make sure. Warrior axe 5 skill, spinning whirlwind. The asura seems limited to about 300 radius while the other races are able to hit 600. That’s a pretty large discrepency.

That said, there is no difference when it comes to things like shouts or any targeted aoe spell such as elementalist storms or necro marks.

Also, amusingly enough, you can hit an asura in melee from farther away as everyone shares the norn hit box size.

The benefits of being small, are outweighed by the fact the larger races get more bang for their buck from melee reach.

Runiir.6425:

Actually there is a benefit to being larger. This benefit is largely relegated to REACH.

Whatch an asura guardian and a norn guardian do the shield 5 skill (the dome shelter). The Asura barely is able to get allies while a single norn could protect 20 people without trying.

Larger characters also hit a larger area with melee weapons. I tested this just last night to make sure. Warrior axe 5 skill, spinning whirlwind. The asura seems limited to about 300 radius while the other races are able to hit 600. That’s a pretty large discrepency.

That said, there is no difference when it comes to things like shouts or any targeted aoe spell such as elementalist storms or necro marks.

Also, amusingly enough, you can hit an asura in melee from farther away as everyone shares the norn hit box size.

The benefits of being small, are outweighed by the fact the larger races get more bang for their buck from melee reach.

Reach is limited to effects of animation alone. All races have the same movement speed, reach, jump height, etc. The devs were very particular about this when people raised concerns during early development.

Edit: My testing is consistent with ranges being independent of character size.

Fild, go do the tests yourself using the training dummies. There is a noticable difference.

If the inclusion of ascension gear proved anything, it is you cannot take what they say at face value and must go physically do the testing yourself. I’ve seen it multiple times through the game, the asura are at a disadvantage in this area…and they SHOULD be due to their size being such a strong benefit, especially in jumping puzzles.

If there is a difference, it sounds like a bug. So could you go post your screens/video in the bug forum ?

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

If there is a difference, it sounds like a bug. So could you go post your screens/video in the bug forum ?

Agreed. I can’t remember what skills I had tested offhand, but I never found a discrepancy. I tested by using a spare character slot on my daughter’s account so I had both characters present at once—I was always able to hit at the same range, although the graphical effect was clearly different.

You can trust what Anet says. Designs and intent can change, but they don’t change for no reason.